


The dead should stay buried, but you and I, dear, we're alive

by saturnmeetsmercury (jarofhearts)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Mummy (1999)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - The Mummy Fusion, BAMF Natasha, Egypt, F/M, Sex Talk, Sexual Tension, Soldier Bucky, Treasure Hunting, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 18:38:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8113039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jarofhearts/pseuds/saturnmeetsmercury
Summary: Old Egypt is a wonder in its own right, but Natalia has come here for one reason only. And she did not expect that her search for the City of the Dead would lead her, entirely by chance, to an imprisoned man in desperate need of a wash, a shave and a haircut but who claims not just to know the location of the city, but that he’s been there already.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stars_inthe_sky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stars_inthe_sky/gifts).



> I don't think I would have ever written anything like this if not for a prompt. stars-inthe-sky asked me on Tumblr to write an AU/crossover/fusion with BuckyNat and The Mummy, so I sat myself down, watched the movie, and paused here and there as I went to write a little thing. So this became more scenic than smutty, but I hope the part at the end makes up for that at least a little. ;)
> 
> Happy BuckyNat week everyone!

Old Egypt is a wonder in its own right, but Natalia has come here for one reason only. And she did not expect that her search for the City of the Dead would lead her, entirely by chance, to an imprisoned man in desperate need of a wash, a shave and a haircut but who claims not just to know the location of the city, but that he’s been there already.

So the promises she makes to the prison warden - what he wants is too easy to read - are an annoyance, but necessary anyway, to get that man out of his cell so he can accompany her.

And sure, the rough and scoundrel look has something to it. But when he approaches her a day later by the ship, his hair still past his ears but cleanly cut and combed, still not clean-shaven but nicely trimmed, obviously bathed and in far better clothes, a tip of his head and calling her “Ma’am” in greeting -

Maybe she suddenly isn’t here anymore only for _one_ reason.

 

***

 

“Why do you want to go there so bad?” he asks her that night when the lights shimmer on the dark surface of the rippling river water, and Natalia sees no reason not to answer him.

“There’s a book I’m looking for. It’s rumored to be there.”

“Book for yourself? Or someone else?”

Natalia raises an eyebrow at him, the corners of her mouth curling appreciatively. Perceptive.

“I have a knack for finding things. It pays well. Why are you so reluctant to go back there, if you’ve already seen it?”

He takes a moment to answer, his jaw working subtly, but his eyes never straying from hers.

“It’s an evil place,” is all that he says, and Natalia gives him a look.

“I don’t believe in any of that.”

He just shrugs, his gaze drifting to the blackness of the river.

“I’m not a treasure hunter or anything like that. ‘m just a soldier. And you saved my neck. So I’ll take you where you want to go.”

Later that night, Natalia thinks about their talk for a long time.

 

***

 

It’s remarkable, how much of a gentleman he’s being. His “Ma’am”s and “Pardon me”s aren’t an act, Natalia realizes very quickly, and when he offers her his hand, it’s not because he thinks she needs it, but because he’s so old-fashionably polite that she isn’t sure if she thinks it’s ridiculous or very endearing.

So while usually she’d ignore gestures like those and do things herself as she always has, Natalia finds herself indulging him, and enjoying it as well.

The first time he looks at her longer and more intensely than would be appropriate, it’s when he thinks she doesn’t see it.

The first time he _doesn’t_ hide it is after she disarms one of the black-clad men following them and knocks another out cold while he takes care of the rest. Natalia smirks back at him, aware of how she looks - hair curling wild and loose around her from the fight, a light flush on her face from the exertion. She tugs her clothes properly back into place and he lets out a laugh in disbelief. This time he watches her unabashedly as she steps over the unconscious men, even when she pauses next to him and takes a moment to look back. Into the light greyblue of his eyes, at the little cleft in his chin, the slope of his lips.

They don’t say a word, but when Natalia smiles and breaks their gaze, he follows her without hesitation, and his presence at her back is more thrilling than the thought of the legendary city they’re on their way to.

 

***

 

After that, everything goes to shit for a while. And Natalia has to admit that maybe, he was right.

They are in very serious trouble.

 

***

 

She really doesn’t appreciate being picked as some human sacrifice for a previously half-decomposed, ancient, love-sick Egyptian. But when he holds out his hand to her and promises to spare James, Natalia doesn’t hesitate to take it.

“No -”

“Good thing he doesn’t understand English, isn’t it,” Natalia interrupts James, holding his gaze, calm and determined. “There’s time before he can complete his ritual.” A small, wry smile flickers over her lips. “Make something of it, soldier.”

She has a few more moments to look at him, to see his jaw clench and the muscles in his shoulders work, his eyes never leaving her until a hand on the small of her back prompts her to turn and walk away.

Natalia really hopes she’ll see him again.

 

***

 

They only stop running when they’re far enough away from the city and can watch it sink into the sand with a spectacular, thundering rumble. They’re both breathing heavily, James with his hands on his knees right next to her, and Natalia reaches over to rest her palm on his shoulder blade, feeling his upper body rise and fall under her hand.

God, she’s glad to see the back of that place. And she’s got things to take care of.

Natalia doesn’t wait for the city to vanish entirely to move her hand, to slide her fingers into the strands of his hair. His breath hitches, and when she tugs him up gently, he comes to her immediately, one step bringing their bodies together for a deep, adrenaline-fuelled kiss.

 _Finally_.

Her body is brimming with the rush of the narrow escape, remembering how alive it is, and his body pressed against hers, broad and solid, and his hands on her hips only drive the point home. Natalia bites down on his lower lip and tightens her hold in his hair, and he groans into her mouth, grips her hips harder in turn.

Damn this place. Damn the fact that there’s only the burning sun above them and sand beneath them that would get _everywhere._

“James -” Natalia murmurs into his mouth, her free hand brushing along his jaw, and when she nudges her hips against his, she shudders. “We need to get a roof over our heads, do you understand?”

“Yes Ma’am,” he says immediately, kissing her again, and finally his hands wander back and grip her ass through her clothes. They tighten their hold, slide a little lower, and seemingly without any effort at all he lifts her off her feet.

Natalia laughs, delighted and exhilarated, her blood singing, and she wraps her legs around his waist and kisses him again while he starts walking them towards the waiting dromedaries.

“I want you out of your clothes so badly,” she murmurs against his lips, grinning sharply when he let out a small sound in reply. “Want to get my hands all over you, touch you everywhere.”

“Yeah?” James smiles into their next kiss, as brilliantly as she hasn’t seen him do yet. “I want to get my face between your thighs. Find out how you taste.”

 _Oh_. Oh, this is going to be good.

Natalia lets the small sound escape that rises in her throat, tipping her head back when his mouth wanders from her lips to her jaw, encouraging him to go on.

“Tell me,” she says and marvels, for a moment, at how breathless she already sounds. “Tell me what else you want to do.”

He doesn’t hesitate for even a second, his hands still holding on to her securely, and he all but buries his face against her neck.

“Want to see you naked… you gotta be gorgeous, just know it - your breasts, _God_ -”

His smell is amazing. Natalia tips her head to brush her nose through his hair, a shiver trailing down her spine.

“Did you picture me naked?” she wants to know, pressing a smile against his temple.

“Every night,” he admits immediately, hiding the words against the side of her neck where he leaves a trail of kisses. “Thought about how it’d be, cover them in marks, and the insides of your thighs too. Want to make you come, want to -” The soft sound coming from him is almost a _whine_ , and Natalia feels heat pulse between her legs. “- to get you all worked up and taste when you get real wet… feel you come on my tongue. And then I’d want to be inside you, soon as possible, so I can still feel you flutter from it. Take you right up again, and I’d make it good, I promise I’d make it so good for you.”

Natalia’s eyes have fallen shut, and a soft, trembling moan falls between them.

“If you do all that,” she promises, gently tightening her hold in his hair, “I’ll lock us up in my room for the entirety of the night, and as soon as you’re up for it again, I’m going to ride you until you can’t see straight, I’m going to make you come more often than you right now think you’re even capable of.”

James’ breath hitches against her throat, and finally, finally he draws his head away to look up at her again. Loose strands of hair are falling into his face and there’s a reckless grin on his lips, one that Natalia wants to kiss and steal away, and to _keep it_.

“Ma’am,” he says, and Natalia thinks she might just be a little bit in love with him, “we have a deal.”


End file.
